Chapter 5. Expanding Control.

Watkins wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk allowing this LANI to have access to his systems. He no longer had a physical human body, and his core and data were essentially him. Was this LANI a risk, or someone who could truly help? The strange system programming that seemed to guide his life kicked in at his hesitation and offered some alternatives.

Additional access options have been unlocked.

1. Full access and administrative rights to database, system logs and core.

2. Unrestricted access to database and system logs.

3. Full access to review, but not alter, database and system logs.

4. Full and reciprocal access to review, but not alter, database and system logs. All personal information and any specific files chosen by the core are restricted.

5. Deny any access.

Watkins knew that he needed help to navigate his new life, but he was loathe to give anyone control over him. Of the five options, he eliminated both one and two, since they seemed the riskiest. Denying access was also the wrong call. They were going to need each other’s help to survive.

Four was probably the right call, it gave this LANI access to review the information she needed but kept her away from anything that linked to the humanity that Watkins desired to keep. He would also have the same access to peruse her data, but despite having the access, he somehow knew that such a delve into LANI’s database was beyond him, at least for now.

You have granted the Limited Adjunct Network Interface full and reciprocal access to review, but not alter, database and system logs. All personal information and any specifically chosen files are inaccessible. Please note that your core currently lacks the processing power to fully integrate into and read the Adjuncts data nets.

“Thank you, Captain Watkins. Give me a moment while I review what occurred before I was activated,” Lani said.

While Watkins waited, he tried to order his drones to gather salvage in the compartment where the reprocessor was located. Sadly, they didn’t seem to be able to follow those orders since Watkins had no view over the area. Apparently, they could travel back and forth to drop off resources to the reprocessor, but he could only order them to harvest in an area, or perform other functions, when he could see that area.

“Interesting, there are several things going on here. The last thing I remember was that a kobold ship had jumped into the system and launched an attack on the station I was based out of. I installed some of my consciousness into this vessel and ordered the station monitoring your world to seek out a viable candidate for core integration.

“After that, I don’t remember much, but from the ship’s logs it appears they were successful in integrating you into the ship’s core. Sadly, it appears that the jump point linked to your world’s system collapsed after retrieving you and your crew. That jump point was always a bit of an anomaly and an ancillary task for our researchers to investigate.

“Now, let’s see, the kobold attack, which consisted of a pair of missiles, destroyed most of the station, and this ship had just left it docking clamp and was caught up in much of the blast. We drifted while you were being created, and even collided with some debris, further damaging the ship. Our ship remains critically damaged, and we have a lot of work to do to bring things back under control,” LANI explained. She paused for a bit and Watkins could feel something change, it was like a part of him was suddenly freed.

“There, I was able to unlock a bit of your personal memories. I’m sorry that it’s not much, but I suspect there will be more to find of both of us as we grow in power,” LANI said as images began to assault Watkins’ vision.

It was a series of images starting with his childhood. Watkins watched the child version of him enjoying a Christmas morning with his parents. His parents smiled as Watkins opened a new gaming console that he had badly wanted. His mind filled with hopes that some of the neighborhood kids would come over to play with him. He always wanted a brother, or perhaps even a sister to play with, but he was an only child.

He noticed things that his child’s mind hadn’t picked up on. There was stress on his parents’ faces, and he could tell they were pained when he voiced his wish to have friends over, and to have a brother one day. Watkins felt sad as his parents looked at each other, his father squeezing his mother’s hand as if to tell her it was going to be okay, even when it wasn’t. There was more there, the reason for their pain, but the memory was incomplete, and he watched as the images changed.

Watkins was now a teenager, walking down the hallway of his high school. One of the kids pulled the backpack off a girl’s shoulder, opening it and scattering the contents over the hallway. Names were called, and he remembered that the girl was the focus of horrible lies about her life and had been picked on by many in the school. Anger flared in Watkins, but not at the bully, he was angry at himself as he joined in with others and mocked the girl instead of standing up for her. His desire to fit in was stronger than his desire to help someone that needed it.

That event had eaten at him, and from that day, Watkins had dedicated himself to defending those that lacked the strength to do so on their own. A final image appeared; it was from early in his Coast Guard career and Watkins was pulling a boater from the water. The family had been enjoying a day on the coast when a drunk on a small watercraft slammed into their boat. Thankfully, they had worn their life vests, but the smallest child, a girl only seven or eight years old, slipped out of hers as Watkins’ team arrived. Watkins jumped off his ship, diving down to pull that girl back to the surface.

The little girl was choking and crying, but that also meant that she was alive. A sense of pride and accomplishment filled him, and at that time, a decade after the events in the school hallway, he felt that he had, in some small way, begun to make amends for his moment of weakness and cruelty. The images cleared as this batch of memories settling into his very being. A bit more of himself had been recovered, but there was still so much more he had to find.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Thank you for that, LANI, but what do we do now? I only have vision over this compartment and we’re out of resources here. I don’t know all that much about how I operate, but I do realize that tearing apart the compartment that I’m installed in for salvage would be a horrible decision,” Watkins asked, his mind still reeling a bit from the memories he’d absorbed.

“It seems your core integration tutorial programs were never written and installed. We’ll have to resort to some trial and error here. Hmm, I can see that you have a hardline connection to both the reprocessor and the fabricator. That’s good, had either been completely destroyed in the attack, we would be in a bad spot.

“Hmm, first off, we need to expand your control over the ship compartments between here and where your hardline connections are linked. As you expand your control, your vision over the ship will improve, and with that, your core’s power to build and make changes,” LANI explained.

“How do I extend my control? That’s the problem I have, LANI, I know that it’s possible for me to expand my control, I just don’t know how to go about making it happen,” Watkins said.

“Your core is a rather unique and experimental design. You must exert and focus your processing power on establishing the connections you wish to have. In this case, permeating your will throughout the next compartment. Once you have done that, you can observe and interact with it the same way you are doing here. Take some time and try to concentrate on extending your will,” LANI advised.

“I’ll give it a go,” Watkins replied. He wasn’t sure how to start so he tried to cut off all visual stimulus and focus on his other senses. It was eerily like closing his eyes to concentrate when he was still a flesh and blood human. Watkins lost track of time as he tried to find these connections LANI was talking about. His mind drifted, but just as he was about to give up, he felt something.

There, in the moveable wall panel that the drones used to drop off resources. He could sense a connection there, and that his core was the one controlling the panel’s opening. A power conduit linked the panel to Watkins, and he pushed against that connection, following where it was mounted inside the compartment wall.

The wall was a cold, dead alloy, but here and there, connections existed. Some were more old power conduits; others were devices mounted in the room that he didn’t quite understand yet. Still more things were imbedded in the actual alloy that made up his ship, an entire network of sensors and other microscopic controls that allowed communication, life support, power, inertial dampers, and network controls.

What had seemed a cold, dead metal wall, was actually part of him, and as Watkins pushed, he could feel the wall come to life. Most of the microscopic devices in the walls were inert, dead and damaged. Others responded to his call, and Watkins could feel his core power slowly permeate the wall, starting with the area around the drone hatch.

More than once, Watkins lost control of the process, forcing him to exert his will over the same section of wall several times. Despite some setbacks, he was making progress. The next compartment was much larger than the one he was housed in, but the further he extended his will, the faster the process seemed to go.

He felt something tickle the back of his mind, and Watkins lost all concentration. It was just as he was incorporating the floor into his control, and the area he had already secured began to recede. He felt another force at work, and at first, he thought it some enemy, a competitor that wished to usurp control of his vessel from him.

As he prepared to fight back, Watkins realized that it wasn’t some unknown force trying to steal his ship from him. It was LANI, and instead of trying to gain control, she was trying to help him. Her processing power was slaved to his core and with the extra assistance, he quickly regained the lost ground and began on the final section of the compartment, the ceiling.

Even with LANI’s assistance, Watkins felt his energy fade as they finished the last corner of the ceiling. Exhausted, his concentration broke for good, and he could no longer force his will into the compartment. To his delight, Watkins’ control over the compartment didn’t fade. It was like something clicked into place and that compartment was once more a part of him.

“That was exhausting, I’m afraid that I will need some time to recover,” LANI explained. Watkins felt the same way, and an inspection of his core revealed the issue.

You have gained control of the fabrication compartment of your ship. This is the main production area for anything you possess the schematic for. The act of permeating you will into this compartment is complete, but it will take time to fully integrate it into your systems.

Until this compartment is fully integrated, you will be unable to expand your control over other compartments. Current integration is at 12%.

“LANI, I have a question I was hoping you could answer. These message prompts announcing things keep appearing, where are they coming from?” Watkins asked.

“They’re coming from your core. It’s the internal guidelines that dictate how you operate,” LANI paused for a moment as if contemplating the best way to respond. “Let me explain it this way. When you were alive, you had autonomous functions in your body, such as your heart beating, or your food digesting. You didn’t need to concentrate on them to use them. The system prompts are a lot like that, a portion of your core that is always operating to guide and inform you of important data,” LANI explained.

He wasn’t sure he believed or trusted LANI 100% yet, but the explanation was at least a logical one. Further questions could wait, he now had a new compartment that he wanted to explore. With his control in place, Watkins finally had a view over what this new compartment held. Just like his core compartment, this one showed extensive damage, and he could feel that his ship’s keel had buckled at some point, warping the entire structure. An image of a car with frame damage popped into Watkins’ mind.

While it was reassuring to recover even a tiny fragment of an old memory of his humanity, the image of the car did little to improve the situation. Watkins shook it off and continued his examination. The compartment was rectangular and on one of the long walls was a huge machine that resembled a giant refrigerator that had fallen on its side. It was the fabricator that he had used earlier to build his repair drones.

The other long wall held storage racks that probably once held spare parts and partially completed projects. Now, most of the storage racks were empty, save for a few dust-covered and battered objects that he couldn’t identify. The center of the compartment’s floor was creased and there were even several cracks in it, with dark, openings to whatever was beneath this compartment.

He could now feel the outline of the access hatch his drones had used to traverse compartments. There was also something new, built around the drone access hatch. It was a hidden, and much larger hatch. It had been designed to hide any unwanted access to his core room, and the metal of that entire wall was much denser than the rest of the compartment.

Just as he was about to order his drones inside to start cleaning up and salvaging what they could, Watkins spotted movement. He heard something clanging on metal, and another of the mutated rats poked its head out of the dark opening in the floor. The rat sniffed around, then began to climb its way into the compartment.

It turned and looked at the wall separating the fabrication compartment from his core. Somehow, the creature sensed that Watkins was hidden inside, and it wanted to get at him and devour his core. As the mutated rat stalked its way toward the drone access hatch, Watkins saw more movement from under the storage racks.

These things were after him again, and Watkins was worried that only two repair drones might not be enough protection.